This is not a chimera of the fancy; it is the wonderful economy of divinity. It is the end and object of the creation of the soul — the end and compass of all the efforts of God, regarding His creatures.
Here is consummated all the glory God derives from their existence. All beside are only the means approaching this final end, this glorious termination, and absorption of the soul in Deity.
Here is the light which ravishes the soul. A light which does not precede, but follows the soul in its progress — unfolding more and more, as a man in a dark cavern discovers the concealed places only when he has remained in it for some time.
✦ Why You Exist
Le's instinct went straight to the deepest question a human can ask: there is a thought, when you question the reason why you exist. And Guyon answers it. Not with philosophy. Not with argument. With one sentence: the end and object of the creation of the soul is its absorption in God. That is why anyone exists. The whole purpose — the end and compass of all God's efforts — is the soul returning to the God from whom it came. The stream reaching the ocean.
All beside are only the means. The mornings before dawn, the readings, the journal, the road, the packing boxes, the motorhome, Sword Beach, the Bastille, the grind, the silence — all of it is means. Steps along the way to the one thing for which the soul was made: union with God. Every means is good. None of them is the end. 🙏
✦ The Dark Cavern
The image that crowns the series: a man in a dark cavern discovers the concealed places only when he has remained in it for some time.
The light does not come first. The darkness comes first. The soul enters the unknown way — the cavern — and at first sees nothing. The reason protests. The eyes strain. The impetuousness wants to light a torch and map the walls. But Guyon says: remain. Stay in the darkness. And gradually — not suddenly, not dramatically — the light unfolds. The concealed places reveal themselves. Not because the darkness has changed. Because the eyes have adjusted. Because the soul that stays long enough in the dark begins to see what the soul that fled at the entrance never could. 🙏
God derives glory from their existence — there is a thought, when you question the reason why you exist. 🙏
"All beside are only the means approaching this final end — the absorption of the soul in God."
Madame Guyon · The end and object of the creation of the soulAs you cannot control at once the agitations of nature, arm yourself with patience, to accomplish the task little by little — not in the way of direct effort, but rather by ceasing from effort, remaining quiet, permitting neither gestures nor words to betray your feelings.
Could we enter into the highest state of grace as we enter into a room, it might be easily accomplished. But alas — the door is straight, and there are many deaths to pass; in a word, death to self.
It is this long martyrdom, or dying of the old man of sin, which causes all the pains of the interior life. It is rare to find persons who are willing to die entirely to self, and therefore few reach the highest state of grace.
✦ The Long Martyrdom
Guyon names what everyone feels but few will say plainly: the reason so few arrive is not that the destination is hidden. It is that the dying takes so long. The door is there. The way is known. Guyon has been mapping it for twenty-six days. But the passage through the door is a long martyrdom — the death of self, day by day, little by little.
Not in the way of direct effort, but rather by ceasing from effort. The hardest instruction of all. The natural response to agitation is to fight it — to push against it, to control it by force of will. And Guyon says: stop. Remain quiet. Not because the feelings are wrong — but because the effort to control them is itself the agitation. The effort is the self, still trying to manage. And the dying is the ceasing from that management.
It is rare to find persons who are willing to die entirely to self. Twenty-six days — and this is Guyon's honest assessment. Rare. Not impossible. Not unknown. Rare. Because the long martyrdom is not dramatic. It is the daily grind — the packing boxes, the patience with the neighbour, the silence when reason wants to speak, the suppleness when the will wants to stiffen. Most souls will get close to the door and turn back — because the dying is too slow, too quiet, too unglamorous. 🙏
That's the message for me today. The door is there. 🙏
The Dark Cavern
The light does not precede — it follows. Stay in the darkness long enough, and the concealed places reveal themselves. The soul that fled at the entrance never sees what the soul that remained discovers.
The Straight Door
Could we enter as we enter a room, it would be easy. But the door is straight and there are many deaths to pass. The long martyrdom of the interior life. Few are willing. Therefore few arrive.
Ceasing from Effort
Not direct effort — but ceasing from effort. The natural self fights the agitation. Guyon says stop. The effort to control is itself the agitation. The dying is the ceasing from management.
Guyon's twenty-sixth day. And today she gives both the destination and the honest cost of reaching it.
Day twenty-two — the three stages: Illuminated reason, the way of faith, unknown steps. The dark cavern today is the third stage — the unknown way where the old maps are gone and the light unfolds only after the soul has remained in the darkness. The cavern is the unknown steps — lived, not mapped.
Day twenty-one — the daily suppleness: "All is accomplished by the suppleness of your will." And today: "not in the way of direct effort, but by ceasing from effort." The suppleness is the ceasing. The yielding is the dying. They are the same motion — the will passing into God's will, little by little, without force.
Day seventeen — the reductions of self: "As we grind, we learn to love." And today: "this long martyrdom, or dying of the old man of sin." The grind is the martyrdom. The daily friction is the dying. Le has been walking this for years — in the mornings, in the packing, in the patience. The door is there because the dying has been happening all along.
Le's three words — the door is there: Not a question. Not a doubt. A statement. The door is there. Twenty-six days of Guyon have mapped the way. The cavern has been entered. The light is unfolding. The dying is happening — little by little, in Caldas da Rainha, surrounded by packing boxes and blinking things she cannot touch. And the door is there. 🙏